{"id":11647,"date":"2013-07-10T09:08:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T19:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11647"},"modified":"2013-07-10T09:08:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T19:08:41","slug":"japan-times-just-be-cause-col-65-police-foreign-crime-wave-falsehoods-fuel-racism-july-8-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=11647","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE Col 65, “Police \u2018foreign crime wave\u2019 falsehoods fuel racism”, July 8, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Police \u2018foreign crime wave\u2019 falsehoods fuel racism<\/strong>
\n BY ARUDOU Debito<\/strong>
\n The Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE JUL 8, 2013<\/strong>
\nCourtesy http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2013\/07\/08\/issues\/police-foreign-crime-wave-falsehoods-fuel-racism<\/a>\/ Version with links to sources.<\/p>\n

These Community pages have reported many times on how the National Police Agency (NPA) has manufactured the illusion of a \u201cforeign crime wave,\u201d depicting non-Japanese (NJ) as a threat to Japan\u2019s public safety (see \u201cUpping the fear factor<\/a>,\u201d Zeit Gist, Feb. 20, 2007; \u201cTime to come clean on foreign crime<\/a>,\u201d ZG, Oct. 7, 2003; \u201cForeigner crime stats cover up a real cop-out<\/a>,\u201d ZG, Oct. 4, 2002, for just a few examples).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A decade ago, the NPA could make a stronger case because NJ crimes were going up. However, as we pointed out then, Japanese crimes were going up too. And, in terms of absolute numbers and proportion of population, NJ crimes were miniscule.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then bust followed boom. According to the NPA (see www.npa.go.jp\/sosikihanzai\/kokusaisousa\/kokusai\/H23_rainichi.pdf<\/a>, or the images accompanying this article), \u201cforeign crime\u201d has fallen below 1993 levels (see H5 column, representing the year Heisei 5)!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"NPAprelimcrimestats2011barchart\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the NPA has found it increasingly difficult to maintain its claims of a foreign crime wave. So, to keep up appearances, the agency has resorted to statistical jiggery-pokery.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, look again at the NPA chart. The time frame has been expanded to 30 years; in previous annual reports, it covered just a decade. By stretching the parameters, the overall chart depicts a comparative rise rather than a small peak before a precipitous drop.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not accounted for, however, is the fact that the NJ population has also risen \u2014 more than doubling since 1993.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another method of manipulation has been to focus on partial rises in certain types of NJ crime, despite the overall fall. And I bet you can guess which got more media attention.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most creative NPA rejig is arguing that NJ crime has been \u201cstopped at a high plateau\u201d (takadomari no j\u014dtai) \u2014 even if that \u201cplateau\u201d is downward-sloping.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every NPA argument leads to the same predictable conclusion: Further crackdowns on \u201cforeign crime\u201d are necessary, because NJ are importing criminality into a once-peaceful Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources:
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/japantimes082807.html <\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1372 <\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=7781<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet neither the NPA, nor the Japanese media parroting their semiannual reports, have ever compared Japanese and NJ crime, or put them on the same chart for a sense of scale. If they had, they would see something resembling the 3-D graph that accompanies this column (courtesy of Japan Times).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"crimeJandNJJapanTimesJuly2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The other chart in Japanese (that can be found at hakusyo1.moj.go.jp\/jp\/59\/nfm\/n_59_2_1_1_1_0.html<\/a> and in the accompanying images) \u2014 on whose data the 3-D graphic is based \u2014 breaks down all crime committed in \u201cpeaceful\u201d postwar Japan. Note the (less-reported) concurrent \u201cJapanese crime wave\u201d (especially the middle, yellow set of bars, which depict thefts alone).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"NPAJcrimestats19462007\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the right-hand scale is in tens of thousands, the graph tells us that there was a spike to well over 2.5 million non-traffic crimes in the peak year of 2002, a number that dropped to just over 1.5 million by 2009. Compared to 2009\u2032s total \u201cforeign crimes\u201d of 30,569 (including visa violations, which Japanese cannot by definition commit), there is a difference of about a factor of 49. Thus \u201cforeign crime\u201d would barely even register on the chart.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So how can the NPA still sex up the stats? They found a new way.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In its 2009 white paper, the NPA talked about how \u201cforeign crime gangs\u201d are increasingly moving into Japan and creating \u201ccrime infrastructure\u201d<\/a> (hanzai infura).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s still such an obscure term that NPA websites have to define it for the public as \u201cthings and organizations that are the basic foundation of crime,\u201d i.e., cellphones under fake names, fake websites, false marriages, false adoptions and fake IDs (see www.police.pref.kanagawa.jp\/images\/h0\/h0001_04.gif<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"hanzaiinfrakanagawakenkeisatsuJune2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although this \u201ccrime infrastructure\u201d technically assists thieves of any nationality, the NPA\u2019s online explanations focus on non-Japanese, with five out of eight examples offered specifically depicting NJ misdeeds (complete, of course, with racist caricatures, at www.pref.ibaraki.jp\/kenkei\/a01_safety\/security\/infra.html<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"hanzaiinfuraibarakijune2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You see this \u201ccriminal NJ\u201d narrative again and again on NPA posters, such at the one reproduced here (www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/bouhaninfurabokumetsutaisakuJune2013.jpg), found at an immigration bureau last March, warning potential NJ miscreants against \u201cforgery,\u201d \u201cbogus marriage,\u201d \u201cfalse affiliation\u201d (i.e., claiming paternity on a foreign child to get it Japanese citizenship) and \u201cfalse adoption.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"bouhaninfurabokumetsutaisakuJune2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note at the bottom, where the NPA has secured a special goro awase mnemonic phone number (hanzai infura nakuse \u2014 \u201cget rid of crime infrastructure\u201d) to help Japanese remember it better.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Clearly this \u201ccrime infra\u201d campaign is not bowing out anytime soon. In fact, the NPA is now citing it to discount the drop in foreign crime! As their 2010 white paper reports, \u201cthe extent of how much crime has become globalized cannot be grasped through statistics\u201d (Kyodo News and Mainichi Shimbun, July 23, 2010<\/a>).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Seriously? So, suddenly, despite all the Nihonjinron mythologies, NJ are now supposedly more likely than Japanese to act in groups?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swallow this, as well as the argument that foreigners are somehow more \u201cinvisible\u201d in Japan (of all places), and voila, the only conclusion you can possibly draw is that all \u201cforeign crime\u201d statistics come from a little black box that only the NPA has access to.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Look, this is getting silly. You can\u2019t ask for a more docile foreign population than Japan\u2019s.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost all NJ do their work (no matter how unequal salaries and benefits are compared to those of Japanese), pay their taxes and try to get along without committing any crimes. NJ don\u2019t even cause trouble by clumping into huge ghettos or keeping a high profile (a recent government poll indicated that 46 percent of Japanese surveyed didn\u2019t even know nikkei South Americans are living in Japan!<\/a>). Nor do they riot every now and again about how horrendously they get exploited; they just hang on by their fingernails hoping for a fair shake in society \u2014 one that rarely comes, as protection from discrimination is far from guaranteed by enforceable laws.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That should be enough hardship to contend with, but then in pounces the NPA to make things worse, picking on the weakest members of Japanese society (as it has done for decades, according to scholar Wolfgang Herbert\u2019s \u201cForeign Workers and Law Enforcement in Japan\u201d) to justify bogus budgets for fighting exaggerated NJ crime.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, foreigners are a soft target anywhere (by definition, they do not have rights equal to citizens in any country), but in Japan they are so disenfranchised that if anyone points a finger at them, there is no way for them to point back.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

NPA excesses have gone on long enough to encourage other bullies. We\u2019ve seen a recent spike in the activity of Japan\u2019s hate groups, most famously the \u201ckill all Koreans\u201d march through Tokyo on Feb. 9. Now how about these anonymous posters making the rounds?<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"gizokekkonjune2013\"<\/a>\"gaikokujinhanzaitsuihouJune2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One (reproduced in the images accompanying this column) warns of the allegedly \u201crapid rise\u201d in fake international marriages for illegal overstayers and workers. Another one calls for kicking out foreign crime (murder, mugging, arson, rape and theft, totaling 25,730 cases \u2014 again, a drop in the bucket of Japanese crime).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, the threat to public safety isn\u2019t \u201ccrime infrastructure\u201d; it is in fact the \u201cpropaganda infrastructure,\u201d reinforced by false NPA arguments, that normalizes public displays of xenophobia and hatred in Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members. Japan\u2019s systemic and unchecked bullying of NJ is going to hurt others, as emboldened haters eventually turn their attention to other weak social minorities.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Message to government: Rein in the NPA, and stop them constantly bashing Japan\u2019s foreign residents. Expose their statistical hogwash for what it is, and redirect budgets to fight crime in general, not \u201cforeign crime\u201d specifically.<\/em><\/strong>
\n=========================<\/p>\n

Debito Arudou\u2019s updated \u201cGuidebook for Relocation and Assimilation into Japan\u201d is now available as a downloadable e-book on Amazon. See www.debito.org\/handbook.html<\/a> . Twitter @arudoudebito. Just Be Cause appears on the first Community pages of the month. Send comments and story ideas to community@japantimes.co.jp .<\/em>
\nENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JBC: These Community pages have reported many times on how the National Police Agency (NPA) has manufactured the illusion of a \u201cforeign crime wave,\u201d depicting non-Japanese (NJ) as a threat to Japan\u2019s public safety (see \u201cUpping the fear factor,\u201d Zeit Gist, Feb. 20, 2007; \u201cTime to come clean on foreign crime,\u201d ZG, Oct. 7, 2003; \u201cForeigner crime stats cover up a real cop-out,\u201d ZG, Oct. 4, 2002, for just a few examples).<\/p>\n

A decade ago, the NPA could make a stronger case because NJ crimes were going up. However, as we pointed out then, Japanese crimes were going up too. And, in terms of absolute numbers and proportion of population, NJ crimes were miniscule. Then bust followed boom. According to the NPA (see www.npa.go.jp\/sosikihanzai\/kokusaisousa\/kokusai\/H23_rainichi.pdf, or the images accompanying this article), \u201cforeign crime\u201d has fallen below 1993 levels (see H5 column, representing the year Heisei 5)! That\u2019s why the NPA has found it increasingly difficult to maintain its claims of a foreign crime wave. So, to keep up appearances, the agency has resorted to statistical jiggery-pokery.<\/p>\n

For example, look again at the NPA chart. The time frame has been expanded to 30 years; in previous annual reports, it covered just a decade. By stretching the parameters, the overall chart depicts a comparative rise rather than a small peak before a precipitous drop. Not accounted for, however, is the fact that the NJ population has also risen \u2014 more than doubling since 1993.<\/p>\n

Another method of manipulation has been to focus on partial rises in certain types of NJ crime, despite the overall fall. And I bet you can guess which got more media attention. The most creative NPA rejig is arguing that NJ crime has been \u201cstopped at a high plateau\u201d (takadomari no j\u014dtai) \u2014 even if that \u201cplateau\u201d is downward-sloping.<\/p>\n

Every NPA argument leads to the same predictable conclusion: Further crackdowns on \u201cforeign crime\u201d are necessary, because NJ are importing criminality into a once-peaceful Japan. Yet neither the NPA, nor the Japanese media parroting their semiannual reports, have ever compared Japanese and NJ crime, or put them on the same chart for a sense of scale. If they had, they would see something resembling the 3-D graph that accompanies this column (courtesy of Japan Times)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,36,33,52,5,26,4,10,13,65,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-fingerprinting-nj","category-hate-speech","category-human-rights","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-policeforeign-crime","category-media","category-racist-images-in-media","category-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}